1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a spectator sport system that displays different views of the event and, in particular, uses the spectator's GPS position to assist in displaying a view.
2. Description of Related Art
GPS systems have been used in sports by participants in contests where position, location and distance to features are important. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,093 describes a GPS system and method for allowing a golfer to tell distance to a hole or other feature, and permits the course to track and manage golfers on the course. NASCAR with Sportsline has developed a GPS system mounted to cars for TV viewers to monitor a race.
GPS systems are becoming much more accurate, inexpensive and robust. GPS antennas and engines are fairly inexpensive and accurate with WAAS to less than 2 meters. At a sporting arena, the accuracy can be improved to centimeters, depending on the accuracy required, latency constraints, processing and bandwidth available, etc. Further, communication links are becoming very inexpensive and high bandwidth. For example, WiFi (802.11g) has modems with network signals approaching a 1 mile range, cost less than $5, with bandwidth of 54M bit/sec. Wi-max (802.16) has network signals approaching 30 miles with data rates as high as 70M bit/sec, but is more relevant to fixed installations Future versions of WiFi or other radio technology might be less than $1 with 10—100× bandwidths within a few years (as used herein WiFi refers to current and future versions of wireless local area networks (WLAN) based on the IEEE 802.11 specifications).
What has not been done is an integrated GPS system for spectators to more fully enjoy a sport. For example, at a NASCAR race, a spectator's location limits his view of the race and is his own unique perspective. While watching a race, the spectator might listen to a radio or watch a portable TV, but the perspective is the announcer's or TV angle. Such divergent perspectives—announcer versus personal—can be confusing. Further, a 3rd turn spectator might be most interested in the cars he can see—the ones near the 3rd turn. Other sports would benefit from a system that allows a spectator to more fully integrate the contest information with his viewing perspective. In addition to auto racing, football, yachting, horse racing, golf, hockey or any motor sport are candidates for the system and method hereof, especially as size and weight of GPS and radios accompanying a participant decreases.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,744,403 describes a GPS system for tracking objects, such as cars, at a sporting event. See also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,090; U.S. Pat. App. 20060105857; U.S. Pat. App. 20050259002. High data rate packet transmission is known, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,894,994; 6,909,738; 6,885,652; 6,917,644; 6,801,516. Examples of user interfaces, such as PDA's, cell phones, headsets, and the like are U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,053,780; 6,879,443 and 6,115,177. All references cited herein are incorporated by reference.